Aurora, Colorado’s police force is clearly dangerous — and it’s enabled by unaccountable police union leaders who prioritize abusive officers over true community safety. It’s time for the mayor, the police chief, and the city council to rein them in. Aurora officers murdered Elijah McClain almost a year ago. A few months later officers mocked and glorified the killing. Then just last month, community members holding a peaceful vigil of violin players — honoring McClain’s life and protesting his murder — were attacked by Aurora police in riot gear, with batons and pepper spray. The police unions’ response? Marc Sears, president of Aurora’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) went on offense, dismissing public criticism as completely unfounded and repeatedly attacking the city’s first openly LGBTQ city council member who has dared call for accountability. The Aurora Police Association, the city’s other police union, which has been silent since McClain’s death, finally spoke up last week — only to complain about the firing of one of the officers and launch a barrage of personal attacks on the police chief, not just decrying her actions but questioning her integrity. As these atrocities have come to light, there’s been no contrition, no apology, and far too little accountability. And Aurora’s police unions have been solely concerned with knee-jerk defense of officers and deflecting any honest conversation about the problems with the department and long-overdue reform. Mayor Mike Coffman says he’s committed to stopping police violence in Aurora and creating real change. But that can’t happen through negotiation between the city and Aurora’s police unions. Like police unions across the country, Aurora’s union leaders perpetuate a violent and unaccountable police culture, routinely defend abusive cops, try to win contracts that effectively put police above the law, and do everything they can to block reform. If they’re given influence over the process, they will block any meaningful change. If Coffman and the city council are serious, they’ll follow the lead of the mayor of Minneapolis and stop any negotiations with police unions about accountability and reform. If we can convince the city of Aurora to stop letting the police unions bargain over the policies and reforms that could hold police accountable, it will help pave the way for real change in Aurora, and send a message to other cities that they can break free of the power of police unions and finally have an opportunity for real change.

This effort violates the rights of over 100,000 felons who have served their sentence and have earned the right to voter restoration. It also disenfranchises over 5 million Florida voters who voted YES on restoration of these rights!! After multiple delays by DeSantis, in October 2019, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the state CANNOT deny the right to vote to someone who is "genuinely unable to pay". He cemented his ruling in May 2020 and laid out a process for the state to use in determining felons' voting eligibility, rejecting an attempt by DeSantis to put the ruling on hold. Instead DeSantis made a rare request for an appeal review by the full court. Plantiffs requesting dismissal of this lawsuit include the ACLU, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, all who had requested the 11th Circuit turn down DeSantis' request for the full court, stating that the case should be expedited so potential voters could participate in Florida's August 18 primary and November 3 presidential election. Governor DeSantis' actions are a thinly veiled attempt to block these voters and completely overturn the votes of over 5 million Florida voters. I am a white female, native born Floridian, a lifelong voter, and a retired police officer, and I am mad as hell that MY vote for Amendment 4 is not being counted! Imagine how the thousands of former non-violent felons feel, some of who served their sentences decades ago, and who are a diverse population of men & women of every color feel?

Statues of mass murderers, Confederate traitors, slave owners, and white supremacists have marred our land for far too long. Thankfully, the time has finally come to remove these material celebrations of racist oppression, and patriots throughout the land have wisely and courageously taken the initiative to do so. However, one official has foolishly called for these rejected statues to find a new home in the small town of America he manages. This effort to create a mecca for racism must be stopped. We the people, Newton Falls residents and/or US citizens, firmly reject the illegal and ill-advised proclamation by a local unelected official to unilaterally declare our town a depository for statues of mass murderers, Confederate traitors, slave owners, and white supremacists. No celebration of systemic racism, genocide, or white supremacy has any place in America The Beautiful. We resolutely reject the proposed denigration of our fair town into a mecca for racists and their ilk, and declare this shameful proclamation null and void. We shall overcome.

* The power plant would operate in an area of Hudson County that is already struggling with significant air pollution and has a failing grade from the American Lung Association for exceedingly high levels of ground-level ozone. * The power plant would release large quantities of harmful pollutants including particulate matter (soot) and nitrogen oxides, which combine with sunlight to form dangerous ground level ozone (smog). * There are major residential areas within 2 miles of the power plant with populations that already suffer from asthma, COPD, and lung cancer. * The plant would exacerbate Environmental Justice inequalities by creating serious cumulative health, environmental, and economic impacts for the surrounding communities, especially for low income communities of color in Kearny, Newark and Jersey City Heights, who already suffer from a disproportionate pollution burden. Source: http://nomeadowlandspowerplant.com/

We need to prevent President Trump from aligning our country with Russia which has some kind of plan for America. Trump is Putin's stooge as Russia helped get him elected in 2016. Also, it has been reported that Trump doesn't want to hear anyone say negative things about Putin: Trump would throw a fit. We can't risk anymore degradation of our country in favor of Russia and the Taliban.

As San Francisco residents, San Francisco General Hospital patients and staff, and other concerned citizens, we urge the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation to remove Mark Zuckerberg’s name from our city’s prestigious public hospital. Mark Zuckerberg’s failure to stop hate, lies, racism, and disinformation from running rampant on Facebook is counter to the values San Franciscans hold dear. He is being pressured to change Facebook’s policies by companies throughout the country that have stopped advertising on Facebook to #StopHateForProfit. San Francisco should support these efforts and remove any mention of Mark Zuckerberg’s name from San Francisco General Hospital until he takes real action to protect the public from lies, hate, and disinformation on the platform he founded.

Hi! I'm Madeline i recently wrote an appeal to get the lgbtq+ panic defense banned What's the lgbtq+ panic defense? “The LGBTQ+ panic defense strategy (also called the ‘gay panic defense’ or ‘trans panic defense’) is a legal strategy that asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression is to blame for a defendant’s violent reaction, including murder. It is not a free-standing defense to criminal liability, but rather a legal tactic used to bolster other defenses. When a perpetrator uses an LGBTQ+ panic defense, they are claiming that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity not only explains — but excuses — a loss of self-control and the subsequent assault. By fully or partially acquitting the perpetrators of crimes against LGBTQ+ victims, this defense implies that LGBTQ+ lives are worth less than others.”So i assume you're pretty horrified something like this exists, well you can do something abt it. You could sign my petition!

It's important because we love him and he's served time for his part. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2006; the judge said he knew he was not the actual killer, but someone had to pay.

The Texas GOP recklessly barrels forward with plans to meet in person, endangering not just their own lives but the lives of their families and communities *and* the lives of the service workers at the GRB, emergency responders with the Houston Fire Department and Houston Police Department, Texas Medical Center medical personnel, and Houstonians at large. Beds at Houston area hospitals are so full, we are transferring patients to Galveston and Conroe. We are heading into a staffing crisis and have not yet approached the apex of the current swell of COVID infections. Last week, grassroots pressure by physicians convinced the Texas Medical Association (TMA) to withdraw its sponsorship of the Texas GOP Convention due to its refusal to go virtual in light of the alarming facts. That is now nearly 55,000 physicians - grassroots and in organized medicine - calling attention to the moral imperative to move this meeting online. There will unquestionably be collateral infections and deaths otherwise. And tremendous liability to the Texas GOP and City of Houston. I am the physician who started the petition among my colleagues to demand that the TMA withdraw its support of this impending disaster. I myself had COVID almost 17 weeks ago and am STILL recovering. I read EEGs (brain wave studies) for intubated and altered ICU patients with COVID and am deeply concerned about the long term consequences of neuro-invasive disease and other end-organ damage. Don't let this happen to your loved ones, Houston. [Photo credit: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer]

So many of us struggle to pay bills, purchase food or medicine, even survival that we solely rely on that extra $600/week! If they take that away how many people how many children how many elderly will be homeless and on the streets?! Unforeseen events have happened causing millions to lose their jobs how can you expect anyone to live off of next to nothing... With schools starting up in September it’s going to be a disaster without that extra $600, no food, no clothes, no school supplies, no gas to bring them to school!! Americans need that money to survive!

Without an hvac system it would be impossible to hold classes without risking the lives of the dancers. It would also be equally harmful to not hold classes at all setting many students back in their coursework. Being present and interacting with others is essential to dance. And we could not truly learn & grow without a studio to dance, create & test boundaries in. That is why we are asking GW administration to implement an hvac system in the jdown dance studio & prioritize the arts as an important program here on GW’s campus.

The name of the Washington team is defined as racial slur going back to at least 1898 printing of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. But the possibility of a name change is finally within view. American Indian people and tribes have repeatedly called on the team to change the name for decades. Despite a claim that the team name “honors” indigenous people, the name itself is derogatory and comes to front the practice of collecting a bounty for “red skins” or scalps of Native men, women, and children murdered as part of this country’s history of genocide. The traditions of the team and its fans also reveal the racist nature of the name. The team’s logo is a racist caricature and the team fight song calls the players “Braves on the Warpath!” all calling up stereotypes of Indian “savages.” And some of the fans of the Washington team take the continuation of the name as permission to dress in costumes mocking and imitating Native people. The team name, its logo, all of these traditions are dehumanizing and perpetuate racism. According to a new UC Berkeley study, • 65% of Native Youth 18-24 year-olds found the Washington team name offensive. • 57% of people who feel highly connected to being Native American are offended by the Washington NFL team name. • Native American mascots cause higher rates of depression, suicide ideation, self-harm, and substance abuse in Native youth, and increased discrimination in schools against Native students. It’s clear. It is time for the Washington NFL team to #ChangeTheName and end its racist images and practices.